BreakingOut.NET

This last year or so I’ve been on a minimalist journey to simplify and downshift my lifestyle.

NOTE: I’ve now split this article into two as the original version was a bit too long.

This is Part One.

Part Two can be found here: How To Minimize Your Life. Part Two: Ten Practical Tips for Becoming a Minimalist

My Time as a Pack-Rat

Before then I used to be a real pack-rat. I used to own loads of stuff – especially clothes, books, sports gear, electronic appliances.

About the only thing I never had was a car. But I did own two mountain bikes. And loads of furniture. And the amount of stuff was always increasing.

Some of this stuff was “legacy”. Things I’d had in my possession and which I’d held onto for years. For little reason other than the fact that I’d bought them or that they had been gifts from people in the past.

It was when I was moving out of my apartment and sorting through it all that I started to realize just how much of a mountain of stuff I’d accumulated.  I was becoming owned by my stuff.

Storage – the first mistake!

I got rid of a fair amount of stuff, but I also made the mistake of putting the remainder into storage whilst I went travelling. Later on when all this stuff finally came back out of storage, it was all the more of a shock to be confronted with how much I had.

That was the first mistake: putting things into storage. It’s something I’ll never do again. It just isn’t worth it. So when I began breaking out of my previous career lifestyle, one of the things I did besides quitting my job and moving was to take a closer look at the issue of my stuff. It was clear that more storage was no longer the solution.

My minimizing journey begins!

Instead I decided to start minimizing, This time I got rid of a whole load of clothes, shoes, books, sports and hobby gear. But I still had too much stuff.

Then in the final few months of last year I started my biggest clear-out to date of all. This time I was much more ruthless. Many of my clothes, practically all of my books, all of my remaining CDs, all my DVDs. Plus the hi-fi, DVD player and other items. They all went.

Make your office paperless!

I also decided that my office would go almost completely paperless. After all, why not? We’ve had desktop computers for some 20 years or more now. We have the Internet, we now have cloud computing, we have cheap digital storage. We should already be there.

Before my last move I had an unbelievable 40 A4 box file folders. This was for both business and domestic purposes. At that time I got the figure down to less than 20. That was how many went into storage. Last year I halved the number again. But it was still too many.

So late last year I decided to clear them all out and throw them away. I scanned and shredded the important stuff. The rest I just shredded. As a result I now have just one A4 box file. I hate box files. No one should be using box files anymore in the year 2012.

Most of the stuff that people file away in box files never gets looked at again. So do yourself a favour and shred paperwork straight away. If it’s important scan it first. And then shred it. Even one file is too many for me now. I only have that for the sake of people who still expect to do business in the old style way with printed paper and snail mail letters.

I always used to have a pinboard. In fact I had several pinboards. But this time I decided to dispose of the pinboards as well. They just serve to accumulate junk pieces of paper. If it’s important, then you should scan the item or note it’s contents on your computer, for example in Google Docs. And if it’s not important enough for that, then you shouldn’t be keeping it anyway. So throw it away.

Next I got rid of all the photo albums I had. I gave away photos to family and friends after having scanned them and put them in the cloud and on my USB drive.

Cut the cord!

I also chucked out the landline telecom connection and phone. I went over to VOIP – a proper Internet phone. I’ll never have a landline phone again, not for private nor for business. Even the VOIP phone I’m thinking of replacing with a simple redirect to my smartphone.

I also cut the cable TV cord to my TV. That’s to say, I disconnected the cable TV service from my TV. I only use my TV to watch downloads that I have chosen, not programs that the TV channels send me. As a result I no longer watch any channel TV.

Reduce your storage space!

Having now got rid of so much stuff, I now found myself with a surplus of storage space. When you have less stuff, you need less storage space. And having cupboard and shelf space just attracts stuff. So it was now time to cut back here as well.

I was able to dispose of no fewer than 6 shelf units in my apartment. Each unit had 5 shelves, so that was 30 shelves worth of space in all that I was able to get rid of. I also dispensed with one big chest of drawers or commode and one wardrobe. I have far fewer clothes now, so I decided to sell my other larger wardrobe as well. I’m managing fine without it. I also got rid of a large balcony storage box. There was hardly anything left to put in it!

A number of other larger items of furniture were also disposed of: 2 carpets, a number of rugs, a table and chairs. How many chairs do people need in practice? Unless you are a big family, do you really need 6 chairs around your table? I now have just 2. I also got rid of an office table and swivel chair. I no longer use them, since I have a standing table and stool in my home office. Office sitting isn’t for me.

A lot of kitchen stuff went as well. Like a large multi-functional kitchen mixer that could do all sorts of tasks short of launching a satellite. It seemed a good idea at the time I bought it, something to  spend money on, a bit of a status object perhaps.

But in practice it was a useless overkill piece of kit which I hardly ever used other than to make the occasional milkshake or pancake.  So out it went.

All the clocks also went. No more alarm clocks. I used to have three wristwatches. Now I don’t have any wristwatches any more. Just my smartphone.

One of my two mountain bikes was also disposed of.  Again, this was an old “legacy” item that I couldn’t bring myself to part with since I’d had it for so long and it had cost so much back then. But I really had no need for it anymore. I had a perfectly serviceable newer one which I mostly used instead.

My minimizing future…

So, what will my next steps be in minimizing?

I plan to get rid of the TV completely. I can watch downloads on my laptop or large screen monitor.

And with that the sofa will also go. I no longer have a coffee table. They serve as landing places for clutter. Also coffee tables take up space and it’s all too easy to bash your shins on the edges. No need for them.

I’d like to dispense with the cable TV service completely, but it’s bundled with my broadband. Actually, I’d also like to get rid of the broadband as well and just use wi-fi. But I think that might be a bridge too far at the moment.

Wi-fi coverage isn’t fantastic yet, it’s patchy at best. Urban areas in Western Europe are still a long way from offering comprehensive and affordable wi-fi Internet coverage. So that’s something for later on.

Ive got rid of so much stuff that I’ve amazed myself. I reached what I call my “baseline” at the end of 2011.  This was the point at which I told myself I’d be content with my present level of possessions. But the process isn’t finished. It seems like there’s no stopping me now.  At this rate my whole life will fit onto a single USB stick in another year or so!

How many things?

Having disposed of so much stuff I was curious to discover how much I have. You read about these super-minimalists with 100 things, 50 things or whatever.

I estimate that I’ve so far disposed of around 100 items. So what’s left?

I did a quick rough count-up of my possessions at this moment. It came to about 170 items. I counted groups of things like small clothing items eg socks, underwear, or kitchen items such as cutlery, plates, cups etc as one item.

170 items I guess is not bad. It looks like I’m doing OK in the minimizing stakes!

Right now I’m still minimizing, the process is continuing further. I’m finding I can live with less and less. And I’m still some way yet from reaching the end of my minimalist journey…

So what have I learned from my journey into minimalism? In Part Two I discuss the practical tips I’ve picked up for minimizing… 

Read Part Two: How To Minimize Your Life. Part Two: Ten Practical Tips for Becoming a Minimalist 

Image: Zen – courtesy of konvekse

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